#Review by Lou of By Your Side By Ruth Jones #RuthJones @TransworldBooks #RosieAinsworth @PenguinRandom

By Your Side
By Ruth Jones

Review by Louise Cannon (Lou)

I am absolutely delighted to be able to review By Your Side by Ruth Jones, having enjoyed her previous books and tv work, thanks to Rosie at Transworld, Penguin Random House. The writing and creativity of Ruth Jones is divine! Readers are in for a treat of a rich, heart-warming, witty, emotional page-turning read with a rather unusual reason attached to travel to a remote Scottish island…
Check out the blurb and review below…

Blurb

DON’T MISS THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE BAFTA-WINNING CO-WRITER OF GAVIN & STACEY.

‘Ruth Jones writes with such warmth you can’t help but fall in love with the characters she creates.’ JAMES CORDEN

The joyful and life-affirming new novel from the co-creator of Gavin and Stacey and the Richard and Judy Book Club author of Love Untold.

Linda and Levi will never meet. But they’re going to change each other’s lives.

In her role at the council’s Unclaimed Heirs Unit, Linda Standish investigates the lives of those who’ve died alone and tracks down any living relatives. She’s been a friend to the friendless for the past thirty-three years. And now she’s looking forward to an early retirement.

But before she hangs up her lanyard, Linda takes on one last case – that of Levi Norman – a Welshman who made his home on a remote Scottish island for the past five years.

What brought Levi here? And who did he leave behind? Obliged to travel (by hearse) with her arch nemesis Fergus Murray, and helped (and hindered) by local residents, Linda searches for clues to a life now lost. And in the process unexpectedly makes new friends, and discovers things about herself she never knew.

Bursting with all the heart and humour that has made Ruth’s name as a screenwriter and author, By Your Side is about finding joy in the most unlikely connections, and the importance of holding onto friendship, love and community – especially when life gets messy.

Review

The Unclaimed Heirs Unit is a fascinating place. Imagine working there trying to piece together people’s belongings and unite them with their new owners. Linda Standish did that, and now, on the cusp of retirement, she takes on one final case. One which takes her to a Scottish island.

By Your Side draws you in with a little humour and a fantastic beginning and that’s it, the hook that doesn’t let go until the end, and even then, not completely, is there, compelling you to read on until the end.

Living in Scotland, myself and travelled around the country a bit, I can say she’s certainly done her research or used experiences well. I am impressed she has chosen, to mention Crainlarich, Perth and more… It’ll feel like a real adventure and road-trip for readers, especially those who have perhaps not heard of these places before. It’s also nice to see them get a mention with that feeling of familiarity for those who have heard of them or, like me, travelled to or through them.

By Your Side is exceedingly heart-warmingly emotional and highlights what is quite an unusual job, showing much care and attention so the deceased are not alone.

Ruth Jones brings together community, travel and discovery together that’s so absorbing that you forget the time as you’re drawn deeply into the plot and characters.

Linda is a fabulous written character who you really get to know, from her love pf chocolate, her kindness and pet hates.

Ruth Jones writes in quite an evocative way that makes you care about why Levi was on such a remote island and makes you want to know more about whether an heir will be found. The people you meet along the way are either enlightening, enriching or intriguing, humorous or a whole mixture.

Cleverly written, By Your Side has the contrast of the actual journey taken to the island with that of the life journey Linda Standish finds herself on. In turn it sends readers on quite the journey themselves throughout what quickly becomes a page-turner of a read.

By Your Side by Ruth Jones is a book I highly recommend isn’t just by your side, but in your hand as you settle down with a cuppa and allow the warmth and humour to ooze out of the pages into your very being.
By Your Side is a book you could pick up and read time and time again.

Buy Links

Waterstones Blackwells WH Smith

Bookshop.org Foyles Amazon

*Please note I am not affiliated to any of the companies or any person mentioned.

#Interview By Lou with Producer/Director, Bear Damen about new film, Synthesize Me @beardamen @Tom_Brumpton_PR #Films #Movies #Music

Interview hosted by Lou
with Film Producer/Director Bear Damen

Welcome to my blog Bookmarks and Stages, Bear Damen to tell us about your latest short film, Synthesize Me. We also discuss, creating films, a music video, working with James Blake on Say What You Will, further films and more..

First of all, let’s find out about the film, Synthesize Me.

Violeta, the young daughter of a widowed electrical maintenance worker, retreats to her mother’s neglected music workshop to play music to remember her. When she causes a widespread power cut tensions rise between father and daughter bringing their grief to boiling point.

A teaser for the film can be found here.

Bear has said the following on the film:

““Synthesize Me” is a personal allegory. While traveling through a liminal town near Mexico City, I realized it was the missing piece of a story idea I had been struggling with for some time. The town’s “unstable currents” and distressed electrical system became the perfect metaphor for two people who rely on the same source yet create something entirely different from it, only to need it to break in order to finally understand each other, even just a little.”

Let’s now plunge into the interview:

You now have quite a body of work in ﬁlms, such as Song and War Pony, you’re your latest being Synthesize Me.

What or who inspired you to write and direct ﬁlms?

For the record, I produced War Pony together with friends who brought me on board, I didn’t direct it.
“Oh, wow, that’s still brilliant”.

I’ve been heavily inspired by 90s cinema. And eventually, like many, Paul Thomas Anderson being a very accessible gateway drug to many other movies in my late teens and early twenties. I remember vividly The Matrix really blowing my mind, aWer which I’ll forever be chasing a certain feeling of understanding a character even though the world they live in is fantastical and mysterious.

How did you start out creating ﬁlms?

Music Videos, which I feel are common but for a reason. It’s small ﬁlms that you can wrap your head around if you’ve never directed before. It’s a great start but you can get addicted to short form if you don’t watch out. If you want to make movies you should just start making shorts and write stuﬀ.

You’ve worked with musician/singer/songwriter James Blake on the video, ‘Say What You Will’. How did that come about and what was it like to work with him?

James had seen some of my work and basically asked to jump on a zoom out of the blue. I’m a huge fan and of course said yes immediately. I think we both felt it was fun to work on something that was the opposite of what he’d done so far, which was more melancholic, heavy videos. But in fact, James is a super funny guy. As is his girlfriend Jameela, who co-wrote the video.

Where do you start to create a music video and are there any crossovers in how you go about creating a ﬁlm?

No I think it’s diﬀerent. You can of course go full narrative in a video, but I love how in a music video you can also play more with abtude and style, and jump into weird vortexes that don’t make sense real quick without anyone asking questions. You should deﬁnitely exploit that I feel when making a music video. It’s why the medium is so unique.

Synthesize Me is your latest short ﬁlm. It tells the story of Violetta who retreats to her mother’s music workshop and plays music to remember her. How do you think music and life events correlate and was it a conscious decision to have the music she plays to be upbeat?

It has Ees to real life as it’s a story drawn from personal experience. And I think a lot of people relate to a parent that didn’t quite understand their world. This ﬁlm is about how sometimes all has to break down in order to take one step towards understanding each other.

The music she plays is just what I love, poly-rhythmic synth music. Like Steve Reich inspired music for synths. It’s just what I heard in my head all the time.

In the screener I was privy to watch, there are quiet moments of scenic shots as well as when viewers see the actors. What are the challenges of ﬁlming such scenes to keep audiences engaged in the ﬁlm?

Shooting with intention. Or at least that’s what I tried. So that you feel that the perspective of Eve and distance to the characters is deliberate and hopefully you feel you’re in the hands of someone who knows what he’s doing.

When there’s a power-cut in the small town, the diﬀerences in how grief is handled by Violetta and her father are stark. What motivated you to show diﬀerent ways people react and how important it is to show that one event, such as a power cut can have a knock-on eﬀect in creating tensions?

Under pressure you see how buried emotions surface. The father shows clearly that he doesn’t want to deal with it and has some mental drawer he’d rather stuﬀ it in. Just as he does with his tools. Violeta is a young girl that’s still clinging on, she’s a bit sloppy and irresponsible which I normally. They both needed this to happen to understand each other’s stakes better. Violeta seeing that her dad has a ‘boss’ that kind of decides both their fates, and how he’s struggling to make life work for her too. Quite literally as she depends on electricity for her art. He now sees how his daughter is an artist. Even if he takes everything away, she will always do that even without power. She’s more powerful than him in that way.

He realizes that before the light comes on. The light indicating they have to move on.

You’ve travelled around a fair bit of the How has this inﬂuenced the style in which you tell stories and what type of stories to tell?

I think it deﬁnitely made me feel more like a world person. I’m trying to avoid the word citizen as it sounds corny as hell.

What that does is that I don’t feel I have to tell ‘my life’ or ‘my country’ or ‘my people’ to the world. I feel I can belong everywhere when it comes to storytelling and chameleon my way through that. It has pros and cons.

In terms of type, I’m deﬁnitely a Spielberg devote in that I want to create a wide opening of my stories o that everything can latch on, and hopefully a ﬁlm then takes them to a place they’ve never been or never dared to go before.

You are currently developing another short and also a feature ﬁlm. Can you tell us a bit about those, the release dates and where people can view them?

Still have to shoot my new short, but the script is done. I have a feature in early development and I’m working on a comedy with a friend.

Apart from the diﬀerence between a short and feature ﬁlm, what other diﬀerences do you have to navigate and how do you go about doing that, in the likes of the way you work, how you’re funded, how you pitch to have ﬁlms released?

A short you can now do anywhere, if you can write compact. Which is hard. A feature will cost a lot of money, even if you do a micro budget. It’s not something coming out of most people’s pockets easily. And the latter only works with improvisation and locations that are accessible. Which requires good writing. All doable, not easy.

Funding in the Netherlands is all government funding based. Which can be a little problematic slow and makes people be good at writing for funds, which is not always a good thing…

Funding indie in the US is private funding mostly. Which hinges on the producer’s network. It’s just hard. And it’s not getting any easier.

Where can people follow you and your ﬁlming work?

Instagram @beardamen and I’m @beardamen everywhere including bluesky.

Thanks so much for this interview!

#Interview hosted by Lou with Catherine Yardley about her book, Where the Light is Hottest and more… @Balavage @rararesources #ReadingCommunity #WritingCommunity #ActingCommunity #Books #Theatre

Interview by Lou with Author, Catherine Yardley

Welcome to Bookmarks and Stages, Catherine. Thank you very much for the opportunity to interview you about your book, The Light is Hottest, hopes and dreams, the creative industry and more for my slot on the Rachel’s Random Resources blog tour.

“Thank you! I am honoured to be included.”

Catherine Yardley is the author of Ember and Where The Light is Hottest. She’s also the editor-in-chief of Frost Magazine and a freelance writer who’s featured in The Bookseller, Mslexia, Metro, Huffpost, Writing Magazine and Writers’ and Artists’ amongst others.

Where The Light is Hottest

Natasha Jones has everything – a successful acting career, an Oscar, a wonderful husband and beautiful kids. But what does she have to go through to get there? From humble beginnings in a small town, Natasha’s path to stardom is paved with setbacks, heartaches and moments of doubt.

In the glittering world of fame and fortune, where dreams are spun from starlight and ambition fuels the relentless pursuit of success, one woman’s journey stands as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit. Beneath the facade of glamour lies a story of unwavering determination and unyielding courage.

Where the Light is the Hottest is a gripping tale of ambition, perseverance and the enduring power of hope. Through Natasha’s journey, we are reminded that the road to success is rarely smooth, but for those who dare to chase their dreams, the rewards are beyond measure.

Without further ado, let’s begin with the first question…

Who or what inspired you to write books?

My main inspiration to write books was all of the amazing books I read growing up. Enid Blyton and Beatrix Potter. Then Stephen King and Dean Koontz. I never thought I would be talented enough to write a book. I am glad I decided to be stubborn and go for it! Lots of things inspire me. Real life, my real life experiences and things I read about. I am interested in people and I love telling stories.

Your novel, ‘Where the Light is Hottest’, is set in the acting world. You were/are an actor yourself. Many actors write within all sorts of genres.
What made you choose to use your knowledge and experience to write a novel for readers to gain that insider’s perspective in fictional form?

I previously wrote a non fiction book, How To Become a Successful Actor: Your Essential Guide to Becoming an Actorpreneur. I wanted to write a novel and the easiest way was to use my own experiences. Writing fiction is a beautiful thing because you can take things that happened, and then write about them in a fictional way. Pablo Picasso said that art is the lie that helps us understand the truth. I can create a true-to-life experience of the acting world better through fiction than real life, which might not be quite so interesting!

Natasha, the main character, is ambitious, has setbacks and accomplishments and builds resilience. How much of Natasha’s life reflect your own experiences and in what way?

Natasha is more ambitious than me. I paused my acting career after sustaining a really bad injury on a film set. Natasha would have kept on going. Natasha comes from Scotland like me, and studied acting. A lot of the stuff in the book happened to me in a way or was things I saw or heard. I never did nudity because I am a bit of a prude, but Natasha ends up doing that on her own terms. She is stronger than me in many ways. She is incredibly resilient. I love that about her. Natasha is also loyal and a good friend. I am too. Friendship is everything.

Where the Light is Hottest is about going after your dreams. Natasha has real resilience and determination to do this. Have you got dreams you pursue, if so, what are they and how do you go about chasing them?

That’s a good question. I do have dreams and I go after them relentlessly. Natasha and I have that in common. My dreams are more writing based these days. Based around book deals and things I want my books to achieve. I recently wrote for The Sunday Times which was always on my list of dream publications. I would still love to write, produce and act. It’s just hard to fit it all in.

How important do you think it is to promote such strong, positive yet emotive stories set around the acting world and what do you hope readers will take away from this?

I think a lot of people think that books set in the acting world are not relatable, but it is a job like any other. It can be tedious and boring. The actual work is not glamorous at all. I think people will get whisked away into a different world, but it is more of a realistic look. It is not Jackie Collins, which I love. It’s glamorous but Natasha is just a normal person trying to make her way in the world. Most people are too scared to go after their dreams. They are more scared to be successful than they are to fail. I think it is important to promote these strong, positive stories that resonate with people to show that you can be terrified and brave at the same time.

Do you, as an actor and an author feel the challenges within the creative industry affects you in any way and how do you overcome them?

Definitely. They are two incredibly hard professions. Maybe even the hardest. There is no clear path and no guarantees. The challenges are vast but the highs are like nothing else. The privilege of telling stories is huge. I love it. These professions are more of a calling. You have to be like Natasha and relentlessly go after your dreams and take failure well.

Do you feel there is any sort of bridge between acting and writing novels where one helps to do the other?

I think all writers should take acting lessons. Being an actor is a fantastic skill. You learn that everything about a person tells you something about them. From how they hold themselves, how they speak, and how they dress. There are a lot of actors who write, and it is obvious that the skills can cross well. Writing as an actor is also a brilliant idea. Making your own projects will help you stand out.

How do you feel when there are unfavourable comments about actors who also happen to choose to write books and how do you overcome the negativity and keep going?

I am lucky that I have not had much negativity. I brush most things off to be honest. I am happy with myself and my life. My dad would always joke when we were growing up that if we were making fun of him then at least we were leaving someone else alone. I think of that a lot now. How there are a lot of people who want to be negative and take their pain out on other people. It is rarely personal, and at least they are leaving someone else alone!

Have you any plans for writing more books or are there any acting jobs you can tell us about that are on the horizon?

There are a lot more books coming. I am very excited about it. There are some other projects coming too. Not much I can talk about, but I am feeling very privileged and happy at the moment. Hard work pays off eventually. In the creative industries it just takes a lot longer!

You can follow Catherine Yardley on these links for social media and her website:

https://x.com/Balavage

@catherineby.bsky.social

https://www.instagram.com/frostmag

https://www.threads.net/@frostmag

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063463605581

https://www.tiktok.com/@balavage

Website: https://catherinebalavageyardley.com/

#Review by Lou of Our Last Wild Days by Anna Bailey #annabaileywrites @DoubledayUK @alisonbarrow #Thriller #OurLastWildDays

Our Last Wild Days
By Anna Bailey

If you liked Tall Bones or Where the Crawdads Sing, this is an enveloping atmospheric, scenic gothic thriller to give a read. Below you’ll find the blurb and my review as well as some links if you’d like to purchase a copy for yourself or a present.

Blurb

‘There’s nothing like it. The way the world gets real quiet when a gator’s nearby…And then the water, suddenly boiling as that black head surfaces and the ancient reptile erupts into the air hissing like a devil…’

The Labasques aren’t like other families.

Living in a shack out in the swamps, they scrape a living hunting down alligators just to get by. To the good people of Jacknife, Louisiana, they are trouble-makers, outcasts, the kind of people you wouldn’t want living on your doorstep.

So when Cutter Labasque is found face down in the muddy swamp, no one seems to care, not even her two rough-cut brothers. The only person who questions the official verdict of suicide is Cutter’s childhood friend, Loyal May, who has just returned home to care for her ageing mother.

Loyal left town at the age of 18, having betrayed everything she valued most. Now, there may be no way for her to find forgiveness, but there may be restitution…

Set against the haunting beauty of Southern Louisiana, Our Last Wild Days is a stunning, evocative novel about the ways in which we come to understand our place in the world.

Review

The moment the first few pages are read, it compels you to read onwards as the atmosphere pulls you inwards into something quiet dark and gothic.

The Labasques are certainly different from other families you may have read about. They are in Southern Louisiana, which is presented with quite an aura and atmosphere that feels raw and haunting. One of them is dead and the family don’t appear to care. This is very different from other books that have family as its focus. There isn’t the warm, cosiness, this shows a harsher side of family life. It makes it a fascinating read, when, if there ever was any loyalty, had waned to such a great extent. Life is hard when you’ve got to do certain things to just scrape by. This isn’t about living any sort of ‘American Dream’ and it makes for gripping reading to show another reality of the continent.

‘Our Last Wild Days’ is a highly accomplished thriller that takes you deep into Southern Louisiana and a rather different sort of family life. There is also loyalty and friendship to be found that warms the story up.
Betrayal and a hope of some sort of salvation and restoration from this is an interesting topic that’s explored. It’s a whole different take on such complexities.

Our Last Wild Days is a deliciously atmospheric read that’s unputdownable, it’s so gripping.

*Thanks to DoubleDayUK for the opportunity to review.

Buy Links:

Waterstones Blackwells WH Smith Bookshop.org
Amazon Foyles Hive

*please note I am not affiliated with any bookshop. I am merely sharing for your ease.

The First Shows Announced For The Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025 #EdFringe #Theatre #Music #Comedy #Plays #ChildrensShows #VarietyShows #DanceShows #Circus

First shows revealed for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025

The first batch of shows that will be staged at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe have been announced, and over 556 shows will be available to view and book on edfringe.com from 12:00 today.

The 556 shows span many genres, including cabaret and variety; children’s shows; comedy; dance, physical theatre and circus; music; musicals and opera; spoken word; and theatre. The shows announced today will take place across 100 venues. More shows will be revealed in the run-up to August.

In a continuing trend, this year more Fringe artists than ever have chosen to make their show available at this early stage, giving them longer to promote their show, grow their audiences and capitalise on all the opportunities available when taking part. It is the artists, companies and venues who come to the Fringe who take the risk in bringing work here every August. Fringe-makers all need help to mitigate these complexities, manage rising costs and make sure this August is the best it can be for residents, visitors and the thousands of arts industry and media that come to the city each Fringe for the world’s largest arts expo.

The Fringe Society continues to advocate and lobby for more support for the festival community – support such as affordable and available accommodation, to the continuation of the Keep it Fringe fund, and anyone in a position to support is encouraged to get in touch with the team.

With over 500 shows on sale from today, the Fringe Society also asks audiences from near and far to start booking tickets now, to take a chance on an emerging artist, to plan a visit to a venue you’re unfamiliar with, and to dive into the first batch of shows.

Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: ‘It is always an exciting moment to see the first shows that will be performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The 2025 Edinburgh Fringe feels more real than ever and being able to browse the first batch of shows adds another level of excitement. It’s incredible to see the range and themes of work as well as the talent and creativity that artists are bringing to the festival this year.

‘More artists than ever have chosen to put their shows on sale at this early stage, allowing more time to plan their trip to Edinburgh this August. The cost of putting on a Fringe show can be a barrier to attending and the Fringe Society is working to support artists in any way that we can, whether that’s sourcing artist accommodation, keeping registration fees affordable, seeking out funding opportunities, or simply providing advice to any artist that needs it. Our Artist Services team is on hand to offer support, so please do reach out to the team.’

Below is a small representative sample of shows available to book from today. The full list of shows released today can be found at edfringe.com.

Cabaret and variety

In 1954: Ella, Etta, Eartha (The Jazz Bar) Melissa Western and her musicians pay tribute to Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James and Eartha Kitt and their ‘swinging jazz, powerful soul and cheeky kitsch’.

Returning this year is La Clique, being staged this year in The Famous Spiegeltent – which is returning to St Andrews Square, while Sexy Circus Sideshow 2.0 brings ‘alternative circus’ to ‘the dark arts of underground burlesque and cabaret’ at Assembly.

Alex Love: How to Win a Pub Quiz 2025 is ‘part stand-up, part actual pub quiz’ at The Stand Comedy Club.

At theSpaceUK, Dan Bastianelli: Identity is providing ‘a brand-new magic experience which uses sleight-of-hand, personal stories and honest deception’, while ‘rock’n’roll’s greatest magician’ Arron Jones is at PBH’s Free Fringe with #1 Greatest Hit Rock’n’Roll Magic Show.

Children’s shows

Join Baby Shark and the Mystery of the Sphinx (Gilded Balloon) at for ‘fin-tastic show packed with music, magic and mayhem’ or skip, clap and march together’ to traditional Scottish music at CeilidhKids at the Fringe (Laughing Horse).

‘Experience magical illustrations and amazing new music’ as you follow Milly’s Musical Adventure (Greenside). At School’s Out Comedy Club with Philip Simon (Le Monde), expect ‘children (and maybe even a few parents)’ to ‘take to the stage to share their favourite jokes’.

Among returning shows for children and their families are The Listies: Make Some Noise at Assembly and Doktor Kaboom: Under Pressure! at Pleasance.

Comedy

Dungeons & Dragons fans will want to join Tartan Tabletop: A Dungeons & Dragons Comedy (Gilded Balloon) for ‘improvised comedy at the roll of a dice’. At Laughing Horse, Chonk hosts a ‘body-positive buffet of comedians from across the Fringe’. Hasan Al-Habib, 2025 Keep it Fringe recipient, ‘was born to Iraqis that moved to Birmingham after deciding Baghdad wasn’t dangerous enough’ in Hasan Al-Habib: Death to West (Midlands) (Pleasance).

Join the ‘longest-running panelist from BBC Scotland’s Breaking the News’ Stuart Mitchell at Hoots or head to Planet Bar for Settle! for ‘a whirlwind of laughter, infectious tunes, and a good old-fashioned roasting’. At theSpaceUK, Chan Lok Tim ‘navigates life as a Hong Konger preparing to become a husband’ in Congratulations, Good for You – Cantonese Stand-Up Comedy.

At Scottish Comedy Festival, enjoy ‘dark, unfiltered and unapologetic takes on the topics most comedians are smart enough to avoid’ at Michael Shafar – Inappropriate. At The Royal Scots Club, Ian Wood relates anecdotes to show ‘being visually-impaired and a wheelchair user, one can get round most barriers in life’ in Living with Mitochondria Against All Odds.

Familiar faces at this year’s Fringe include Nish Kumar and Jason Byrne at Assembly, Andy Parsons, Chloe Petts, Deirdre O’Kane, Elf Lyons, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Marjolein Robertson and Rhys Darby at Pleasance, Paul Sinha and Richard Herring at The Stand, and Geoff Norcott and Ali Woods at Underbelly.

Representing Scotland’s comedy scene, Susie McCabe is at Assembly, while Connor Burns, Craig Hill and Daniel Sloss are at Just the Tonic and Robert Grainger is at The Stand.

Dance, physical theatre and circus

At Greenside, Tales From Your Queer Elder ‘blends movement and spoken word’ while ‘creating a powerful testament to living authentically while encouraging others to follow their dreams’.

Australian circus company Gravity & Other Myths return to Assembly with Ten Thousand Hours, bringing ‘an ode to the countless hours of sweat and joy needed to achieve great things’.

Art of Andalucia brings a must-see flamenco spectacle to YOTEL Edinburgh, while at theSpaceUK, Sole to Soul ‘blends the physical language of traditional Chinese opera with the expressive symbolism of modern dance’.

Music

For an ‘evening of classics from the silver screen’, check out Tutti Orchestra: At the Movies at Canongate Kirk, or ‘experience the beauty of Italian and Neapolitan love songs’ at La Dolce Vita: A Celebration with Philip Contini (Valvona & Crolla).

MASSAOKE has two runs at Underbelly this year, 90s Live – ‘everything from rock to rave, girl power to grunge and Britpop to boybands’ – and Sing The Musicals – ‘Mamma Mia, Hamilton, Frozen, The Greatest Showman, Dirty Dancing, Les Mis, Jungle Book, We Will Rock You, Phantom, Mary Poppins and many more’.

Ali Affleck comes to the Fringe with five shows this year: she’s with her band The Vagabond Jacks playing Hot Roots Jazz, Highway Honky-Tonk, Rags and Blues at the Argyle Cellar Bar; paying tribute to Billie Holiday with Sophisticated Lady at The Jazz Bar; and revisiting both venues with Ali Affleck Presents: A Hot Time in the Old Town – Celebrating the Wild Trailblazers of Blues and Jazz; Ali Affleck and the Traveling Janes – Bringing Bold, Brassy Bedlam to Swing, Blues and Trad Folk/Roots Jazz; and Ali Affleck’s Queens of Swing.

Head over to Footstomping: Live Scottish Music (WHISKI Bar & Restaurant) for a ‘vibrant foot-stomping good time’ or listen to ‘up-and-coming young musicians’ at Marchmont Music (Marchmont St Giles Church).

Journey to Stolen Identity (Saint Stephen’s Theatre) explores ‘women’s rights through a blend of musical genres, starting with classical but evolving into jazz and rock’. At Edinburgh New Town Church, Andrii Kymach: Ukraine is a ‘new recital, Ukraine, specially devised for 2025’s Day of Ukraine Independence’.

There are a number of tribute acts across venues, including Billy Joel, Fleetwood Mac and Celine Dion at theSpaceUK, Abba at Greyfriars Hall at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh and Joni Mitchell at Le Monde.

Musicals and opera

Check out Charles ii: Living Libido Loca at PBH’s Free Fringe for a ‘raunchy adult historical comedy centered around the life and libido of Charles ii’ or head to Rock of Ages at Paradise Green for ‘powerhouse vocals, epic guitar solos, and all your favorite 80s rock anthems’.

How to Win Against History is a ‘tragi-gorgeous comedy musical’ and ‘a true story about expectations, masculinity, privilege and failure on an epic scale’ at Underbelly.

At Greenside, the prince breaks free of the fairytale to ‘sing his very own songs and complain about what his life could be’ in To Be a Prince. At theSpaceUK, ‘ancient Silk Road meets the present, and centuries-old murals come alive’ in Dunhuang.

Updated for 2025 with new songs, I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical the ‘musical comedy revue revealing all about musicals and the people who love them’ is back at Gilded Balloon.

If you fancy a ‘murder-mystery comedy musical’, head to The Detective’s Demise at Just the Tonic for ‘showstopping songs and devilish twists’.

Spoken word

At The Stand, ‘elected MP for Islington North, former Labour leader, and Peace and Justice project founder’ Jeremy Corbyn is in conversation.

For ‘an amusing take on life, with the added hint of truth’, check out What Are You Laughing At? at theSpaceUK, while ‘Peter gives a stirring and passionate account of his great-grandmother’s hard-fought campaign for the right to vote over 100 years ago’ in Alice Hawkins – Working Class Suffragette at the Arthur Conan Doyle Centre.

Theatre

Shakespeare for Breakfast is back at C Venues, offering a ‘sensational Shakespearience, perfect for hardened fans and blank-verse virgins alike’ while former Chelsea FC trainee Alfie Cain delivers a ‘raw and powerful solo performance … exposing the brutal reality of football’s unforgiving system’ in Dropped at Easter Road Stadium.

Timestamp at Dovecot Studios is a ‘performance duet of sonic verse, dance, and audience experience that challenges the expectations imposed upon us in society.’ A Period of Faith follows Faith’s ‘battle against Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder in a moving and thought-provoking way’ at Hill Street Theatre.

Brown Girls Do It Too: Mama Told Me Not to Come (Underbelly) explores ‘messy realities, fantasies, sexpectations and navigating life and relationships as British Asian women’.

Experience the beauty of Italian literature and the terror of looming deadlines at Valvona & Crolla with No Shakespeare. At theSpaceUK, The Boy from Bantay takes us on Jeremy’s ‘heartwarming journey of growth and self-discovery’.

Miriam Margolyes is back this August with Margolyes and Dickens: More Best Bits, bringing ‘more characters, more Dickens and more fascinating stories about the man behind the classics’ to Pleasance. More familiar favourites returning this year are Trainspotting Live at Pleasance and Xhloe and Natasha with three shows at theSpaceUK – A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First, And Then the Rodeo Burned Down and What If They Ate the Baby?

Head to Robot Vacuum Fight Club (Outhouse Bar) to ‘form a team, select a knockoff Roomba, customise it, then pit it against a dozen rivals in a series of knockout competitions’, or check out Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me but Banjos Saved My Life (Summerhall), an ‘inspirational true story … about overcoming obstacles, pursuing passions, and the healing power of the arts’.

– Ends –

About the Edinburgh Festival Fringe: The Edinburgh Festival Fringe will take place from 01 – 25 August 2025. More information about the programme and tickets can be found at edfringe.com.

About the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society: The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society is the charity that underpins the world-renowned Edinburgh Fringe. It was established in 1958 by a group of artists to provide central services for the festival and ensure that it stays true to its founding purpose of inclusion and welcome to all. We exist to support and encourage everyone who wants to participate in the Fringe; to provide information and assistance to audiences; and to celebrate the Fringe and what it stands for all over the world. Based on the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, the Society has a small team of staff who work year-round to assist all the artists and audiences who make the festival one of the best loved performing arts events on the planet.

In 2022, as part of the Fringe’s 75th anniversary, the Fringe Society launched a new collaborative vision and set of values, and made a series of commitments to become more inclusive, fair and sustainable. The vision is “to give anyone a stage and everyone a seat”.

Our three values will guide the behaviours and decisions of everyone involved with the Fringe: celebrate performing arts, be open to all and look out for each other. The Society will live by them, champion them and uphold them where necessary.

#BookReview By Lou of The Homemade God By Rachel Joyce coming April 2025 #RachelJoyce @alisonbarrow @TransworldBooks @DoubledayUK #TheHomemadeGod

The Homemade God
By Rachel Joyce

Review by Louise Cannon
Bookmarks and Stages

The Homemade God is a fascinating and absorbing read about sibling relationships and the cracks that fragment those ties. What happens to them when this occurs?
I am delighted to review this latest book from Rachel Joyce. Thanks to Alison Barrow at Transworld Books UK/Double Day UK for the opportunity to review.
Check out the blurb and my full review and buy links below.

Blurb

There is a heatwave across Europe.

Goose and his three sisters gather at the family’s house by Lake Orta in Piedmont, Italy. Their father, a famous artist, has recently remarried a much younger woman and decamped to Italy to finish his masterpiece. Now he is dead and there is no sign of a painting.

Although the siblings have always been close, as they search for answers over that summer, the things they learn – about themselves, their father and their new stepmother – will drive them apart before they can come to any kind of understanding of what their father’s legacy truly is.

Extraordinarily compelling, at heart this is a novel about sibling relationships and those hairline cracks that can appear within a family: what happens when they splinter, and what it would take to mend them.

Review

From the first page, transportation to a summer heatwave occurs where you can hear the sound of flip-flops. From that page, it’s easy to be drawn in. You’re there! Meet Goose, Susan, Netta, Iris and their dad, whom they refer to as daddy. It’s easy to get caught up in their lives and what seems cosy and close. It’s fascinating reading about what can be deep within people and Joyce doesn’t shy away from any of it. She has given her characters desires and fantasies, whether in a professional field or a relationship one.
Expect the unexpected from this author and all tastefully written.
I have to digress here and say that it’s rather fun seeing one of them want to be a chef like Lesley Waters, purely because when I was growing up, I saw her and the sense of fun she brought to cooking in the likes of Ready Steady Cook and now I rarely hear of her, so I thought this was exciting. Now, back to more important things like the book…

Vic Kemp is an interesting character who you see intriguing art from and hope it would be one day in the top art galleries. What you also see is the inner turmoil and strife of an artist that feels authentic. There’s also a developing and compelling mystery about the women who may or may not be just his muse…
The observations of the human condition are profound, especially when it comes to Vic and Goose, both of whom tug at heartstrings.

There’s a wonderful sense of urgency in some of the plot, when it comes to their father’s death. It hooks you in even further as many questions are posed by the family as his life is delved deeper into, which gives a slight sinister and intriguing feel.

The complexities of the weaving of light and dark in human life in their circumstances, desires, secrets are expertly interwoven into an unravelling and uncovering major elements of the family Rachel Joyce has created. It makes The Homemade God intriguing and highly compelling. It also puts the reader through many emotions as it becomes increasingly involving the more you read into the characters and what is being portrayed.

Rachel Joyce excels at drawing readers into family relationships and developing characters and situations that are believable and some of which are relatable. The conversations that occur are natural and you can totally become involved in “listening in on them” in what is a compelling drama that unfolds.
The dark humour that pricks the narrative and conversations is delightful!

I highly recommend Rachel Joyce’s books and this is another masterpiece!

You can pre-order now. Homemade God is published 17th April 2025:

Amazon Waterstones WH Smith Bookshop.org

*Please note I am not affiliated with any company.

About the Author

Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, The Music Shop, the instant New York Times best seller Miss Benson’s Beetle, Maureen Fry & the Angel of the North and a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories. Her latest novel The Homemade God will be published in April ’25 in UK, and June ’25 in US and Canada.

Rachel’s books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and sold millions of copies world-wide. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The critically acclaimed film of the novel, for which Rachel wrote the screenplay, was released in 2023 starring Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton, and in 2025 the musical will open in Chichester Festival Theatre, for which Rachel also wrote the script. Miss Benson’s Beetle won the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize 2021, Rachel was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards ‘New Writer of the Year’ in December 2012 and she was shortlisted for the ‘UK Author of the Year’ 2014. In 2024 she was given an honorary doctorate by Kingston University.

Rachel has written many original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4 and she is currently adapting Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen which will be aired later this year. You can follow her on Instagram at rachelcjoyce.